In addition to laying out the cost savings, Baker debunks claims from the Bush Administration, Big Pharma and several corners of the media that the current drug program is holding down costs.

Baker finds that part of the reason why the program hasn’t spent as much as expected is:

…fewer people are expected to enroll in the program than had previously been projected…because fewer people believe that they will benefit from the program than [the Congressional Budget Office] had originally anticipated. This does save the federal government money, but it means that the program is helping fewer people than had originally been expected.

No wonder why the Bush Administration won’t release its data on drug prices. It likely wouldn’t back up their claims that private insurers are driving costs down and helping consumers.

Meanwhile, if we reformed the program to empower Medicare to negotiate, we’d save so much money, we could easily deal with our pressing problem in providing health insurance to children.

It’ll take $10 billion a year to ensure all children eligible for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program actually get enrolled. (Democrats in Congress support that, while Bush has proposed less than $1 billion.)

Let’s see if anyone in the media actually covers the Baker report, or if they just keep spitting out White House spin.

A mass refusal by the public to watch Donald Trump on TV will deprive him of big ratings, which he routinely uses to create a false impression of widespread popularity.

About Bill Scher

Bill Scher is the Online Campaign Manager at Campaign for America's Future, and the executive editor of LiberalOasis.com. He is the author of Wait! Don't Move To Canada!: A Stay-and-Fight Strategy to Win Back America, a regular contributor to Bloggingheads.tv and host of the LiberalOasis Radio Show weekly podcast. He has opinion articles that have been published by the New York Times, Minneapolis Star Tribune and Omaha World-Herald, and has made appearances on CNN, MSNBC and NPR among other TV and radio outlets.